Women drivers safer than men, ATRI finds

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ARLINGTON, Va. – Violations for reckless driving or failing to yield the right of way remain the top two driving behaviors that predict future crashes, the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) says. And when it comes to a battle of the sexes, female truck drivers were safer than men.

The finding comes in the institute’s third update to its crash predictor model, which compares behaviors like prior crashes, violations and convictions to the likelihood of a future crash.

The analysis draws on data from more than 435,000 U.S. truck drivers over a two-year timeframe, and identifies almost a dozen behaviors that raise the risk of a future crash by more than 50%.

Involvement in a prior crash increase the likelihood of a future crash by 74%, researchers found. Female truck drivers were also determined to be safer than male counterparts in every statistically significant safety behavior, with men 20% more likely to be involved in a crash.

Many fleets have come to use the crash predictor model to steer recruiting and training practices.

“ATRI’s crash predictor model is a key input to our driver hiring and training practices. Safety is our first concern and by understanding how driver histories relate to future crash probability, we can develop targeted solutions for minimizing safety risks,” said John M. Prewitt, president of Tideport Distributing.

The latest ATRI crash predictor model also identifies industry average crash costs across six types of crashes and severity.